Too bad we'll have to wait until?August to
September to get another good glimpse of?either Uranus or?Neptune.
Currently Uranus is only 5-degrees from the sun and Neptune is about 20-degrees.
Next time you?spot Uranus it's surprising how bright it is, easily within
the grasp of small binoculars, and even naked-eye under a dark sky. It's really
exciting when you first see it in a telescope. The color is so unusual, compared
to surrounding stars. Neptune is a bit more challenging. Not only is it
minuscule in size but is on 1/5th as bright!? Boy or boy, is it ever
exciting to see such a distant solar system member, though. How about a real
challenge? One of BBAA club members?Charles Allewelt found 14th magnitude
Pluto with?his 6" Newtonian. Pluto will be favorably placed from early June
until late August 2004.
?
Kent Blackwell
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----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, February 23, 2003 2:21
AM
Subject: Re: [backbayastro] Re: R.A. and
Dec
>One of these evenings I'm going to . .
.?actually find Uranus using it's RA / Dec!
Good Luck!? I was looking for Uranus last
Fall at the Chiefland Star Party in Florida, in a nice dark sky, and was
getting frustrated because I was following the directions I got from the
magazines, Astronomy and Sky and Telescope. . .?, but
even though I knew where?to look, I wasn't seeing it, because I
didn't know what to look for.? I went over to the guy next to me
and asked him to find Uranus in his LX200 and let me see what it looks
like.? As soon as I saw it, and got the pattern of stars around it, I
found it easily in my own scope by star-hopping.? I actually had had it
in my scope before, but it just looked like a medium-bright star.? Once I
knew what to look for, I found Uranus, and as I zeroed in on it, and increased
the magnification, I could detect a pale greenish color, which I hadn't
noticed before.
G3
?"Rick Bish <2bookworms@...>"
<2bookworms@...> wrote:
Thanks
Ted and Kent! Your different perspectives were very
complimentary and
helpful. Also I'll keep my nose burried in my copy
of Wil Tirion's book:
The Cambridge Star Atlas.
One of these evenings I'm going to go over to
Jarvis Road, and
actually find Uranus using it's RA / Dec!
Rick
Bish
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George Reynolds, Deputy Commander, Tidewater South Section Royal
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"Solar System Ambassador" for South Hampton Roads, Virginia
?Member, Back Bay Amateur Astronomers (BBAA)?
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